A young generation is learning to like something that experienced gardeners already understand: gardening is cool.
The Good News Network, goodnewsnetwork.org, reports that horticulture enjoyed a renaissance among 18- to 34-year-olds during the Covid-19 lockdown. Eight in 10 people that span the Millennial and Gen Z generations think gardening is cool—and more than half of them would rather go to a garden center than a nightclub.
This is great news … er, good news … for the horticulture industry. The attraction seems to be rooted in these generations’ wanting to make their homes and gardens a more inviting place to be. They find plants improve their mental health and plants create a space they can escape to. The survey found that the responding adults spent close to two hours during a typical week taking care of their beloved plants.
The survey was commissioned by Kev Smith, head of marketing at Draper Tools (drapertools.com). He was excited to report that “the popularity among young adults is fantastic to see, we knew it was popular, but even we were surprised by the outpouring of love for it.” He added that “there’s a tendency to think of gardening as an activity for older people, but this poll proves that gardening really is for everyone, whatever your age.”
The most popular houseplants among those polled were easy to care for plants like cactus, orchids, and aloe vera. The most commonly grown outdoor plants were bulb crops like daffodils and tulips and plants with fragrance like roses, and lavender.
The act of gardening itself is a big appeal, but new gardeners like spending time shopping for gardening items. A weekend outing to a garden center affirms this. On any Saturday morning or afternoon garden centers and nurseries are packed with shoppers browsing aisles for plants and scooping up supplies.
Gardening was one of the activities that kept folks occupied during the pandemic. Many who were introduced to gardening during that time continue their interest in plants and landscapes.
Millennials and Gen Z–ers use gardening apps for advice. Here are a few:
• Seek by iNaturalist, inaturalist.org
• From bhg.org Essential Garden Guide, Garden Compass, MyGarden
• iScape, iscapeit.com
• Smartplantapp.com
• GrowSquared, growsquared.net
Survey information from bhg.com
Ellen Peffley Harp, a retired professor of horticulture at Texas Tech University, writes about gardening for several Texas newspapers.
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